Glimpse of a Reaver during their raid on Lilac in Serenity
Reavers are a fictional group of humans in the television series Firefly and subsequent film Serenity who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic. Within most of the timeline of the series and movie, the existence of Reavers is officially denied by the Alliance, the ruling government of humanity in the Firefly franchise, but they are a harsh reality around the outer planets.
The Reavers are mentioned several times during the course of the television show. A Reaver ship is seen in the pilot episode, and the episode "Bushwacked" shows someone who was exposed to the Reavers’ madness and starts to mimic them. The movie Serenity featured Reavers and reveals their origin.
Concept
Joss Whedon, creator of the Firefly series and director of Serenity, has said of Reavers, "Every story needs a monster. In the stories of the old west it was the Apaches". He explained how he removed the racial aspect of the Apache metaphor by using the Reavers. "I used that example by saying that anyone who goes out into space and goes mad can become a monster."[1] The purpose Reavers serve in the show has been compared to the Hollywood "Injuns" of the 1950s in western movies by outside sources.[2]
Comic book artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of Swamp Thing, contributed Reaver concept designs for the film Serenity.[3] The "mythology" of the Reavers in Firefly and Serenity has been said to be different.[4]
Behavior
In Firefly, Reavers are readily recognized in any situation by both appearance and behavior. Whether ritually or in fits of rage, they are portrayed as self-mutilating creatures, peeling off parts of their own skins and shoving pieces of metal into the flesh. Reavers are savage, brutal, and primal, though they engage in some form of social behavior and cooperation within their own group. In the franchise, their contact with normal humans appears to be limited to combat, rape to death, torture, and cannibalism. These contacts are brief and survivors few. As a result, little is known of Reavers' social structure.
Reavers growl and snarl like beasts; even radio transmissions within their flotilla seem to be little more than shrieks and moans. However, they presumably communicate on some level as they are still able to cooperate and act purposefully enough to use spaceships and set sophisticated technological traps. In Serenity, the Reavers only begin to closely inspect the disguised Serenity after it fails to respond to a red light pulse[5] from a Reaver ship. This suggests that Reavers have retained some level of higher intelligence and social structure, though they are guided solely by their impulse to capture and consume any humans they come in contact with.
The Reavers live on the edge of the human-controlled binary solar systems, rarely venturing deep into occupied space. As a result, most of the inner worlds and many Alliance officials believe them to be myths made to cover for violent criminals. Reavers are known to capture ships and raid colonies on the edge of populated space – as Zoe puts it:
"If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing – and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."
They occasionally leave intentional survivors of their raids, apparently subjecting them to a form of brainwashing – forcing them to witness the torture of other Reaver victims – that may drive them into the same state of cannibalistic depravity.[6]
They travel in macabre ships stained with blood and decorated with corpses chained to the hulls. They appear to live their whole lives in space, only touching down on a planet or moon to carry out a raid.
Technology and battle tactics
Reaver ships, captured from their victims, are instantly recognizable by the haphazard red stripes and bodies of victims adorning their hulls. They are also known for flying without proper safety measures such as nuclear engine radiationcontainment, a practice tantamount to suicide. This makes Reaver ships faster than their normal counterparts, but also makes it easier for their prey to detect their approach and to hide by powering down their ships rather than fleeing.[7] Reavers' habit of ramming their victims with indifference to damaging their own hulls tends to leave their ships appearing battered or torn.
Their craft possess a wide variety of exotic weaponry, many of which are designed to snare and capture other ships including EMP cannons, grappling lines, and energy nets. They use weapons that fire giant sharpened disks similar to buzzsaws or shuriken, in addition to more traditional anti-ship ordnance. They also fire long, lance-like metal rods. Rather than firearms, Reavers will use any sharp object as a weapon in personal combat. They also fire toxic darts to cripple their opponents but not kill them. The goal of their weaponry is most likely to increase the number of survivors on victim ships (since Reavers have no interest in victims who are already dead[8]). To cripple rescue ships, they have been known to leave a bait ship intact with a bomb planted on board, set to detonate when another ship docks to help, destroying the already-derelict ship and crippling the ship that tried to provide aid.
The Reavers operate a variety of vessels, from Firefly-sized vessels to captured Alliance warships. In the movie Serenity, the most notable of the Reaver ships was a huge colony vessel orbiting Miranda, which is several times larger than any of the Alliance vessels it subsequently attacked. Even with its greater size, the Reavers used the same tactics as with smaller ships, ramming an Alliance flagship and splitting it in half due to the vast difference in mass.
Human response
Reavers terrify most non-Reaver humans. Even the most battle-hardened will opt to leave any space where Reavers are present rather than risk capture. For instance, in the show, when Reavers are coming, Mal becomes very serious and escapes quickly. Reavers are also possibly the only thing that even Jayne fears, as the mere suggestion of traveling where there is a risk of encountering Reavers makes him extremely agitated; although he claims to fear no man, Jayne declares that "Reavers ain't men!". In the movie Serenity, the normally calm and collected Operative is visibly terrified as Reaver ships appear through an ion cloud and hastily orders his ships to fire on them.
Reaver methods are so horrifying that, when faced with capture, victims have been known to attempt suicide. Survivors have been known to cut their own faces, act and think like Reavers, and eventually become Reavers themselves.[9]Mercy killings of people who are captured or who fall into the hands of Reavers are considered humane, as evidenced in one scene in the movie Serenity when Mal shoots and kills a man who is grabbed by a few Reavers, who respond by dropping the dead man to the ground.[8]
Because of their part in the unethical, if accidental, creation of the Reavers, the Alliance government denies their existence, even withholding information on them from Alliance commanders of patrol ships in or near Reaver-space.
Origin
The original theory within the series is that Reavers are men who traveled to the edge of the star system and were driven mad by the open vastness of space. This theory is discussed among most of the crew members of Serenity. In "Bushwhacked", Shepherd Book states that he believes that they are "just men" who have been removed from civilization far too long—men who could be helped. Both Jayne and Mal strongly disagree with the Shepherd's opinion.
The Reavers' true origin is revealed later in the movie Serenity. The crew of Serenity find evidence, in the form of an Alliance scientist's holographic message, that Reavers were originally humans from the planet Miranda. The Alliance government used Miranda as a testing ground for the chemical agent G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate, or simply "Pax" (Latin for "peace"). It was added to the planet's air processors in order to calm the population and weed out aggression. The agent worked, but too well: 99.9% of the population became so lethargic that they stopped working, talking and, eventually, eating and moving. They simply lay down where they were and allowed themselves to die. The remaining 0.1% of the planet's 30 million people (approximately 30,000 total) had the opposite reaction to the Pax, becoming mindlessly violent and extremely aggressive. In fact, the scientist is violently killed by one of these survivors, the original Reavers, while recording the message.[10]
Following the events of Miranda, the Alliance sealed all records regarding the event and deemed the world unsuitable for colonization. When Reavers began attacking outer colonies, only a few officials within the Alliance knew the real cause. This changes, however, when the crew of Serenity arrange for what they have uncovered to be broadcast throughout the colonized system, what they refer to as "the 'verse".
Related Research Articles
Firefly is an American space Western drama television series, created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as an executive producer, along with Tim Minear. The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters living aboard Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things."
Serenity is a 2005 American space Western film written and directed by Joss Whedon in his feature directorial debut. The film is a continuation of Whedon's short-lived 2002 Fox television series Firefly and stars the same cast, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2517, Serenity is the story of the crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The captain and first mate are veterans of the Unification War, having fought on the losing Independent side against the Alliance. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbors a dangerous secret.
"Serenity" is the original intended pilot for the American science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It was the first episode produced for the series and premiered as the show's series finale on Friday, December 20, 2002 on Fox. With studio executives unsatisfied with the episode for the series premiere, the show's second episode, "The Train Job", was re-written and produced as a second pilot to be aired first. The episode shares its name with the 2005 feature film Serenity, which serves as a continuation to Firefly.
The Alliance, formally known as the Union of Allied Planets, is a powerful fictional corporate supergovernment and law-enforcement organization in the Firefly franchise that controls the majority of territory within the known universe.
Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Firefly franchise. Mal is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Mal is a former Browncoat sergeant and the captain of the "Firefly-class" spaceship Serenity. The character was named at No. 18 in TV Guide's Greatest Sci-Fi Legends list in 2004.
"Bushwhacked" is the third episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon.
"The Train Job" is the original series premiere and second episode of the American science-fiction western television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It was the second episode produced and aired on Friday, September 20, 2002, on Fox. The episode was written by Whedon and Tim Minear as the second pilot to the series following Fox after executives were unsatisfied with original pilot "Serenity", which later aired as the series finale. According to the 2003 DVD commentary, Whedon and Minear had only two days to write the script.
"Our Mrs. Reynolds" is the sixth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It aired as the show's third episode on Friday, October 4, 2002 on Fox.
"Ariel" is the ninth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly, created by Joss Whedon.
"Out of Gas" is the eighth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It differs stylistically from the rest of the series, in that it tells its story alternately in three timeframes: events in the present, events in the near-past that led to the present, and events in the past that led to the formation of Serenity's core crew.
"War Stories" is the tenth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon.
"Trash" is the eleventh episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It is the first of three episodes that were not broadcast in the original 2002 Fox run.
"The Message" is the twelfth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It was the fourteenth and final episode produced during the show's production, but was placed before "Heart of Gold" and "Objects in Space" on the home video releases. "The Message" was the second of three episodes along with "Trash" and "Heart of Gold", that were not broadcast in the original 2002 Fox run and later aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 15, 2003.
"Objects in Space" is the 14th episode of the science fiction television series Firefly. It was the 10th episode to premiere on Fox during the series' original broadcast and aired on Friday, December 13, 2002, one day after the network announced the show's cancellation.
Serenity is a fictional spacecraft that appears in Joss Whedon's Firefly television series and related works. Set in the 26th century, the series follows the nine-person crew of the Firefly-class vessel, a small transport ship, as they earn a living through various legal and illegal means. The ship is the main setting; it appears in all fourteen episodes, the film, and several comics.
Serenity is a line of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics from 2005 to 2017. It is a canonical continuation of Joss Whedon's Firefly television series and the 2005 film Serenity, which are all part of the Firefly media franchise. It was not an ongoing series; rather, it consisted of a number of miniseries and one-shots, released sporadically.
Firefly is an American space Western media franchise created by Joss Whedon and produced by Mutant Enemy Productions. The franchise includes the TV series Firefly, the film Serenity, and other media.
Derrial Book is a fictional character played by Ron Glass in the science-fiction/Western television series Firefly and its sequel movie, Serenity. He is a Shepherd, and provides frequent spiritual advice and perspectives for the crew of Serenity.
Serenity: Leaves on the Wind is a 2014 six-issue comic book miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics, based on the 2002 science fiction television series Firefly, and the 2005 feature film into which it was adapted, Serenity.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
